Juneteenth

 So, tomorrow is Juneteenth, and yesterday Congress voted at the last possible moment to make it a federal holiday.

Which means this white chick is not talking about herself this week. Instead, I'm going to suggest my readers check out some of the wonderful Black authors doing fantastic work right now. (I'm not going to talk about Nalo Hopkinson, N.K. Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor, because you already know them unless you've been under a rock ;)).

Here's a few names to look at.

Tomi Adeyemi - I loved her Children of Blood and Bone, although I haven't got around to the sequel yet. Amazing African-flavored secondary world fantasy.

Jordan Ifueko - His YA novel, Raybearer was my choice for the Nebula this year, although it lost out in the final vote to T. Kingfisher's A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. It's also up for a Hugo. More African-flavored secondary world fantasy, subverts the soulmate trope beautifully and has a significant asexual character, as well as being delightfully written. Get it for your kids...and a second copy for yourself.

P. Djeli Clark - responsible for such gems as The Black God's Drums, Ring Shout and my personal favorite, The Haunting of Tram Car 015. Clark does his best work in the novella and novelette lengths, so if you're looking for a quick read, he's one worth checking out. Also a really nice guy.

Rivers Solomon - I really loved their dark take on mermaids in The Deep, which was based off of a song which was based off of...I forget, but it's been circling. Basic concept is mermaids descended from pregnant slaves who didn't survive the Middle Passage. But they have some other work out too.

Tochi Onyebuchi - Riot Baby made me uncomfortable and that's exactly why all of my white friends should read it.

Tade Thompson - also a really nice guy and his Rosewater takes biopunk and cyberpunk to Africa in a very interesting way.

I also recommend checking out FIYAH, the magazine of black speculative fiction, which provides a wonderful sampler of the best working today.

Please celebrate Juneteenth by reading and recommending books by Black authors.